Earth-working machines, such as, for example, excavators, wheel loaders, hydraulic mining shovels, cable shovels, bulldozers, and draglines, are generally used for digging or ripping into the earth or rock and/or moving loosened work material from one place to another at a worksite. These earth-working machines include various earth-working implements, such as a bucket or a blade, for excavating, scooping, and moving the earthen work material. These implements may be subjected to extreme wear and/or damage from the impacts and abrasion experienced during the earth-working applications.
To facilitate penetration and removal of earthen materials, the earth-working implements may be equipped with ground-engaging tools such as teeth, edge protectors, and other cutting tools that are arranged where the ground-engaging tools will encounter the most damaging impacts and abrasion. Because the ground-engaging tools themselves are subject to wear and damage, they may be designed to be removable and replaceable with new tools as part of the maintenance of the earth-working implement. To enable removal and replacement of the ground-engaging tools, the tools typically include or may be designed with retainer systems that attach the tools to the earth-working implements.
For example, one type of retainer system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,074,350 (“the '350 patent”) assigned to the applicant of the present disclosure. The '350 patent describes a ground-engaging tool assembly in which a supporting adapter is permanently attached to the earth-working implement and a wear member, such as a ground-engaging tip, is releasably secured to the adapter via a locking mechanism. In particular, the ground-engaging tip has a cavity disposed therein that receives a correspondingly shaped portion of the adapter. When the adapter slides into the cavity, a lug post projecting from a lateral surface of the adapter can align and mate with a notch formed in the sidewall of the cavity. Assembled into the notch may be a rotatable collar-like retainer having a semi-circular latch collar and that can be accessed through an aperture or opening disposed in the cavity sidewall. To lock the adapter and ground-engaging tip together, the retainer can be turned using a ratchet tool or Allen wrench inserted through the aperture so the collar slides around the lug post thereby preventing the adapter from backing out of the cavity disposed in the ground-engaging tip. To release the components, the retainer can be turned back to its unlocked position freeing the lug post. Like the '350 patent, the present disclosure is directed to a releasable retainer system for attaching a ground-engaging tool to an earth-working implement.